Browse mode: only filter out speaking of focus events caused by NVDA, rather than trying to work out if the caret is still within the last focus.

[michaelDCurran]

Link to issue number:

Fixes #12896
Fixes #6606
Fixes #14494
Fixes #14495
Fixes #14606

Summary of the issue:

NVDA sometimes fails to report focus in browseMode documents, as it is trying to filter out redundant focus events caused by moving the caret.
Particular cases:

• Focus moves from a control inside a gridcell or interactive list item, back to the ancestor gridcell or interactive list item.
• Focus moves from a gridcell or interactive list item, to the first control inside the gridcell or interactive list item.
  Currently, NVDA chooses to ignore any focus in browseMode that overlaps with the browseMode caret. This is so that any focus event that resalts from moving the caret is not reported as this would be redundant. However, this rule is clearly too limiting as it stops the above examples from working.

Description of user facing changes

In Browse mode, NVDA will no longer incorrectly ignore focus moving to a parent or child control e.g. moving from a control to its parent lit item or gridcell.
Note however that this fix only applies when the Automatically set focus to focusable elements option in Browse Mode settings is turned off (which is the default).

Description of development approach

Rather than ignoring focus changes in browse mode if the new focus's range overlaps the existing caret position, focus is only ignored if it is the same object that NvDA has specifically requestes etting focus to, such as when pressing the applications key or activating a control.

Testing strategy:

Performed steps in issues #14494, #14495, #12896, #6606.
Ensured that fixed issue #8341 is not regressed.

Known issues with pull request:

This fix only applies if the Automatically set focus to focusable elements option in Browse Mode settings is turned off (which is the default). Thus anyone who has turned on this option (to get back very old behaviour before 2019) won't get this fix. However, it is planned to remove this option completely in the near future.

Change log entries:

New features
Changes
Bug fixes

• In Browse mode, NVDA will no longer incorrectly ignore focus moving to a parent or child control e.g. moving from a control to its parent list item or gridcell. Note however that this fix only applies when the Automatically set focus to focusable elements" option in Browse Mode settings is turned off (which is the default).
  For Developers

Code Review Checklist:

• Pull Request description:
  • description is up to date
  • change log entries
• Testing:
  • Unit tests
  • System (end to end) tests
  • Manual testing
• API is compatible with existing add-ons.
• Documentation:
  • User Documentation
  • Developer / Technical Documentation
  • Context sensitive help for GUI changes
• UX of all users considered:
  • Speech
  • Braille
  • Low Vision
  • Different web browsers
  • Localization in other languages / culture than English
• Security precautions taken.

[AppVeyorBot]

• PASS: Translation comments check.
• PASS: Unit tests.
• FAIL: Lint check. See test results for more information.
• PASS: System tests (tags: installer NVDA).
• Build (for testing PR): https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/7b20lpp0iwb2rr2h/artifacts/output/nvda_snapshot_pr14611-27633,25cb221d.exe
• CI timing (mins):
  INIT 0.0,
  INSTALL_START 0.9,
  INSTALL_END 0.9,
  BUILD_START 0.0,
  BUILD_END 22.2,
  TESTSETUP_START 0.0,
  TESTSETUP_END 0.3,
  TEST_START 0.0,
  TEST_END 22.5,
  FINISH_END 0.2

See test results for failed build of commit 25cb221da3

[AppVeyorBot]

• PASS: Translation comments check.
• PASS: Unit tests.
• PASS: Lint check.
• FAIL: System tests (tags: installer NVDA). See test results for more information.
• Build (for testing PR): https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/edbae6sxfu02naww/artifacts/output/nvda_snapshot_pr14611-27634,f17541e4.exe
• CI timing (mins):
  INIT 0.0,
  INSTALL_START 0.8,
  INSTALL_END 0.8,
  BUILD_START 0.0,
  BUILD_END 21.5,
  TESTSETUP_START 0.0,
  TESTSETUP_END 0.3,
  TEST_START 0.0,
  TEST_END 22.4,
  FINISH_END 0.4

See test results for failed build of commit f17541e498

[brunoprietog]

@michaelDCurran Why do you plan to remove this setting? I always have it enabled and it is very useful for me in conjunction with the ObjectLocationTones add-on. It allows me to have a spatial notion of the location of screen elements. If that option is removed, I will no longer be able to automatically know the location of the object, because it will not be automatically focused. Thanks

[fastfinge]

Chiming in to say I also keep this setting enabled. Both for this case, and also because some menus/controls will only expand on focus, it makes demos easier when working with sighted folks, and in the past when it's turned off I've had issues with the webpage not scrolling to the position of the virtual cursor. @brunoprietog Unfortunately, I don't have enough data to make a strong case for keeping this feature, and this feels off-topic for this pull request. Shoot me an email; perhaps this is something the two of us should work together on. @michaelDCurran is there any timeline for this removal? I do depend on this feature, and I'd like to advocate for it with something a bit more convincing than "Well, I like it and I think it should be turned on, and sometimes it causes me issues when it's off".